Photo: courtesy Ports928 Canary Islands port economic news

Iberconsa (Platinum Equity) draws its fishing business from Mauritania

MAURITANIA
Monday, October 25, 2021, 05:00 (GMT + 9)

Platinum Equity, the fund that owns Urbaser, hopes that the reactivation of the economy will generate greater strength in the business of its investee Ibérica de Congelados (Iberconsa), a traditional client of the port of Las Palmas, after buying it from Portobello Capital and family subsidiaries founders of the company. The company starts the reactivation of the economy based in Mauritania with which it can accelerate its increase in market share in food chains such as Mercadona.

Lazard and Deloitte acted as financial advisors to Platinum Equity in the acquisition of Iberconsa. Latham & Watkins served as Platinum Equity's legal advisor on the transaction. Nomura and Ernst & Young (E&Y) acted as financial advisers to the sellers. E&Y also served as legal counsel to the sellers in the transaction.

Iberconsa has established itself in Mauritania and is a global supplier of frozen seafood and squid. The company is vertically integrated throughout the value chain, including wild capture, processing, marketing and distribution. Iberconsa maintains its own fleet of 45 vessels, five processing plants and four cold storage distribution facilities. Iberconsa's African fleet operates mainly in Namibia and South Africa, and the company's products are sold in more than 60 countries. Alberto Freire, CEO of Iberconsa, continues to lead the business after the transfer of ownership.

In addition to Urbaser in 2021, the acquisition of Iberconsa has been the latest example of the growing momentum of Platinum Equity in Europe. Last year, Platinum Equity completed the $ 2.1 billion acquisition of Zug, Switzerland, and Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania-based blood glucose monitoring company LifeScan, from Johnson & Johnson. The firm also acquired Wyndham's European vacation rental business for $ 1.3 billion.

The stability of the agreements between the European Union (EU) and Mauritania allow investments in this market where the possibilities of catching the fleet for Spain, the first beneficiary country, and offers permits for 68 vessels from Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Galicia and the Basque Country and ensures the continuity of the Spanish fleet in Mauritanian waters until 2026

The agreement with Mauritania is the most important for the EU in terms of fisheries and has yet to be ratified by both parties, but it will be applied provisionally as of November 15, the date on which the extension of the current protocol ends. In return, it foresees a financial contribution from the EU to Mauritania amounting to 62 million euros for the first two years, and a review from the third season to adjust it to the catch possibilities used during the previous seasons.

The royalties to be paid by the shipowners are increased by an average of 5%, with adjustments to reflect the market price for the different species. By category, the new agreement offers fishing possibilities for 5,000 tons per year by shellfish operators, and up to 25 simultaneous licenses in this modality, which will be used entirely by the Spanish fleet in Huelva.

The fresh hake vessels will have fishing possibilities for a volume of 6,000 tons and four Galician trawlers; Bottom longline licenses not used in the previous agreement are eliminated and the retention of squid, crustaceans and liver oil will also be allowed. For freezer trawlers, the possibilities will be 3,500 tons of hake, 1,450 tons of squid and 600 tons of cuttlefish, with 6 licenses, all of them for boats with a base port in the Canary Islands.

Image: courtesy Iberconsa Group

For demersal species other than toothfish, there will be a catch possibility of 3,000 tonnes and this category will be the only one in which the fee does not rise, remaining at 105 euros per ton; Six Galician longliners that extract fresh black pomfret will benefit. Freezer tuna purse seiners maintain a reference tonnage of 12,500 tonnes, with progressive royalty increases from 70 euros today to 80 euros per ton; This category concerns 10 Basque and 2 Galician freezer vessels.

The agreement offers fishing opportunities for 15 units of pole and surface longline tuna vessels, with a reference tonnage of 7,500 tons; of them 14 are Spanish (7 Basques and the rest Galician and Andalusian). For the pelagic freezer trawler fleet (sardine, mackerel or horse mackerel), the agreement allows the catch of 225,000 reference tonnes and benefits mainly vessels from the north of the EU, while Spain will take advantage of a license thanks to a temporary assignment from Poland and It will also ask for the allocation of possibilities that the United Kingdom had before Brexit. 

Author/Source: Yaiza Santana / Puertos 928 (article available only in spanish)

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